It is commonly required in application fields of a distributed synchronous browse of products, a network based remote failure analysis, a medical consultation, etc., to connect plural computers over a network in order to perform synchronously a control operation. In the prior art, such synchronous control methods for plural computers are generally divided into the following two categories:
The first category involves a multi-computer synchronous browse control system in a client/server mode. A computer in such a system shall act as a server, and the other computers in the system shall communicate with the computer acting as the server in order for a desired synchronous control. Particularly, software executed on the computer acting as the server is different from that executed on the other computers, and the computer acting as the server shall be firstly initiated and remain constantly operative in order to ensure a normal operation of the system.
The second category involves a multi-computer synchronous browse control system in a peer mode. No specialized computer is required in this system to act as a server to control the other computers, but a control privilege of a master computer shall be set manually by a user, that is, a control request command shall be pre-executed by the user, and a corresponding computer can be set as the master computer for an operation control only upon permission; and correspondingly, if the master computer has to be replaced, firstly a control privilege abandon command of the current master computer shall be executed, and then a new control request command shall be executed again for a master computer which is newly set, and the master computer can be replaced only upon permission.
As can be apparent, the first approach in the prior art has the following drawbacks:
(1) Two different sets of software, i.e., server software and client software, have to be equipped for the same system, and this might unnecessarily result in an additional system overhead, a waste of resource and a raised cost;
(2) At least one specific computer (server) has to be firstly initiated and remain constantly operative in order to ensure a normal operation of the system, and this might also result in the problems of an additional system overhead, a waste of resource and a raised cost; and
(3) A control operation of the master computer for enforcing a control has to be firstly sent to the server, which in turn forwards it to other computers of the system, and this might result in a delay of the control and a consequential slowed reaction of the system.
The second approach in the prior art has the following drawbacks:
Both acquisition and renouncing of the control privilege of the master computer has to be effected by the user executing a specific command, and this might be inconvenient to use and operate and frequently render the system appearing inoperative to the user and produce consequentially a poor user experience.
In general, it is currently desirable for those skilled in the art to address a technical issue of how to propose innovatively a synchronous control mechanism for plural computers in order for a simple and efficient synchronous control on the plural computers while offering a better user experience with a reduced system overhead, waste of resources and cost.